LAHORE: Punjab’s Communications and Works Minister Malik Sohaib Ahmed Bharth has ordered field offices of the Highway Department to compile a district-by-district record of their machinery, showing which units work, which are broken and which need repair, in an exercise that points to the absence of a single verified inventory.
At a review meeting on Tuesday, Bharth told officials to list the type, number, current location and condition of every machine, and to consolidate the data so the department has accurate figures for all districts.
He asked for “authentic and verified” information and a comprehensive report “as soon as possible”, though no deadline was announced.
Rollers, graders, excavators and asphalt plants are the department’s tools for routine road maintenance and for emergency work during floods. Idle or unaccounted machinery adds to costs when contractors’ equipment has to be hired instead.
Bharth has made quality control a theme of his tenure, telling engineers in Sahiwal last month that no road would be accepted without a quality check.
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